Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 #2 St. Thomas (Minn.) 2, #17 UW-La Crosse 1

#17 UW-La Crosse 4, #2 St. Thomas (Minn.) 1

Minneapolis, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team opened its 2013 season with a doubleheader split with the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) Sunday night in the Metrodome. Both games were seven innings. The Tommies, ranked second in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll and on the D3baseball.com Preseason Poll, won the opener 2-1. The Eagles, ranked 17th in the both Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and D3baseball.com Preseason Polls, came back to win the nightcap, 4-1. St. Thomas is now 5-3 on the season.

UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first in the opener. Brooks Braga tripled with one out and scored on Adam Cordova's RBI double.

St. Thomas tied the contest in the top of the third inning as Ben Podobinski scored on Christiaan Wabers' two-out single. The Tommies took the lead in the top of the sixth. Wabers opened the inning with a single and advanced to second on an Eagles' error. He then scored on J.D. Dorgan's RBI double.

UW-L was held to two hits in the game, Braga's triple and Cordova's double in the first inning.

Tim Verthein (0-1) suffered the loss for the Eagles, going 7.0 innings, allowing seven hits, two runs (one earned) and three walks while striking out four.

Wabes and Dorgan each went 2-for-3 with an RBI for St. Thomas. Dylan Thomas (1-0) earned the win for St. Thomas. He pitched 7.0 innings, allowing two hits, one run and one walk with nine strikeouts.

In the nightcap, St. Thomas took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Kelvin Stroik reached on a UW-L fielding error and scored on Tim Kuzniar's RBI triple.

UW-L took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning. Cole Cefalu and Josh Rowles singled to start the inning. Cefalu was forced out at third on Braga's fielder's choice, but Cordova followed a three-run home run to right field to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.

The Eagles added a run in the fifth inning. Braga walked with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then scored after Cordova reached on a St. Thomas throwing error.

Cefalu and Rowles each went 2-for-4 for UW-L with Cefalu scoring one run. Cordova finished 1-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored on the home run while Braga scored twice.

Joel Effertz (1-0) picked up the win for the Eagles. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing two hits, one run (unearned) and one walk with seven strikeouts. Skyler Debilzen earned the save, going 1.0 inning, allowing two hits.

Four different players had a hit for St. Thomas. Collin Wendinger (0-1) suffered the loss for the Tommies, pitching 4.1 innings, allowing five hits, four runs (three earned) and three walks while striking out three.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, March 16 versus North Park University (Ill.) in Tucson, Arizona.